8.  The applicant, Mrs Ayşenur Zarakolu, was a Turkish national and lived in Istanbul. She was represented before the Court by Mr Özcan Kılıç, a lawyer practising in Istanbul.
9.  On 25 April 2002 the Court was informed of Mrs Zarakolu's death on 28 January 2002 and that Mr Ragıp Zarakolu, her widower, wanted the proceedings to continue and wished to participate in them, retaining the applicant's lawyer as his representative.
10.  For practical reasons, Mrs Zarakolu will continue to be called “the applicant”, although Mr Zarakolu is now to be regarded as such (see Dalban v. Romania [GC], no. 28114/95, § 1, ECHR 1999-VI and see also Ahmet Sadık v. Greece, judgment of 15 November 1996, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996-V, p. 1641, § 3).
11.  The applicant was the owner of a publishing company, Belge Uluslararası Yayıncılık, in Istanbul.
12.  In April 1994 the applicant's company published a book entitled Emekçiye Mektuplar-1, Türkiye'nin Düzeni ve Kürt Sorunu (Letters to the Worker-1, The Order of Turkey and the Kurdish Problem), written by Haluk Gerger. The book is a chronological compilation of newspaper articles written by the author and published in various newspapers between 1991 and 1993.
13.  On 8 March 1995 the chief public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court examined the book and decided not to take any action in respect of its publication.
14.  On 17 January 1997 the principal public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court lodged an application with the court requesting an order for the seizure of the book which was by that time in its 4th edition.
15.  On the same day the 6th Chamber of the Istanbul State Security Court, sitting with a single civilian judge, ordered the seizure of the book in accordance with Article 28 of the Constitution, Article 86 of the Code on Criminal Procedure and Article 2 § 1 of the Press Law no. 5680. The court considered that the book, at certain pages and taken as a whole, contained statements which provoked feelings of hatred and enmity among the people by discriminating on the grounds of race and region, offences under Article 8 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law No. 3713) and under Article 312 § 2 of the Criminal Code respectively.
16.  On 29 January 1997 the applicant filed an objection with the Istanbul State Security Court against its order of 17 January 1997. She pleaded that the book as a whole, including the pages impugned by the principal public prosecutor, did not contain any element of the offence described in Article 8 of the Law No. 3713 or in Article 312 § 2 of the Criminal Code. She further stated that the court's order lacked reasons and merely repeated the request of the public prosecutor. She maintained that in publishing the book she aimed at enjoying her right to express ideas and impart information to the public. She also contended that the court's order for the seizure of the book contravened Articles 6, 9 and 10 of the Convention. She finally asked the court to set aside the seizure order of 17 January 1997.
17.  On 3 February 1997 the 6th Chamber of the Istanbul State Security Court, sitting with three full members including a military member, dismissed the applicant's objection and upheld the order for the seizure of the book.
18.  On 2 July 1997 the principal public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court filed an indictment charging the applicant with disseminating separatist propaganda under Article 8 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and with incitement to hatred under Article 312 § 2 of the Criminal Code.
19.  On 16 June 1998 the Istanbul State Security Court noted that the chief public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court had already examined the book on 8 March 1995 and had decided not to take any action. The court stated that it was not clear how and why an indictment was filed on 2 July 1997, outside the statutory period. The court finally decided to discontinue the trial on the ground that the statute of limitations in respect of the offences in question was one year from the publication of the book.